Multi-center investigation and the relative factors of the clinical nurse occupational low back pain

Abstract

Objective To understand the present situation of occupational low back pain of clinical nurses, and analyze its influence factors. Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 300 clinical nurses from 7 Class Ⅲ Grade A general hospitals in 5 provincial capital cities, in the region of north China, central China, southern China, southwest and northwest, from April to December 2016. The survey tools included general demographic characteristics questionnaire, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Chinese version of Fear-Avoidance Belief Questionnaire (FABQ-CHI) . A total of 1 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 1 279 valid were collected. SPSS 21.0 was applied for statistical analysis. Results In the 1 279 nurses, 115 (8.99%) had no low back pain, and 1 164 (91.01%) was positive. The majority of nurses suffered with mild pain, account for 64.69%. The average score of FABQ-CHI in negative nurses was (50.11±17.5) , and that in positive nurses was (55.24±8.2) , the difference was statistically significant (t=14.56, P<0.001) . Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in VAS scores among nurses of different ages, marital status, fertility status, professional titles, working years, and whether or not they participated in training (P<0.01) . Multivariate analysis showed that age (OR=1.40) and professional title (OR=1.84) were the influencing factors of low back pain. Conclusions The incidence of occupational low back pain in nurses is high, and it is related to individual factors, work related factors and psychological factors. It is suggested that great attention should be paid to the popularization of knowledge on prevention and treatment of low back pain and the training of occupational protection skills for clinical nurses. Especially, we should pay attention to the correlation between psychological factors and nurses' occupational low back pain, gradually improve the working environment and bad living habits of nurses, reduce the occurrence of low back pain, and improve the job satisfaction of clinical nurses. Key words: Nurses; Low back pain; Fear avoidance beliefs; Multi-center survey; Influencing factors